The Mind of a Murderer: Privileged Access to the Demons That Drive Extreme Violence by Katherine Ramsland

Author:Katherine Ramsland [Ramsland, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-08T07:02:00+00:00

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Although the precise start of Theodore Robert Bundy's criminal career is unclear, he came to the attention of law enforcement as "Ted" in 1974. Several young women had been assaulted or had disappeared in Oregon and Washington State, and when two suddenly vanished on the same day from Lalce Sammamish State Park near Seattle, witnesses described seeing both at separate times with a slender man named "Ted." He'd been driving a tan or gold Volkswagen Beetle. Unfortunately, with such a vague description and such a popular car, the potential suspects formed a long list. Then when the remains of the two young women were found amid skeletal parts a few miles from the lake, the authorities knew they had a predator in the area. He was looking for pretty young girls and he'd killed before. What they did not realize is that he'd already moved on.

Bundy had graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in psychology and had been accepted into law school at the University of Utah. But his killing did not stop. As he roamed around Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, several more corpses of missing young women turned up. There were no central databases at the time for communicating across jurisdictions, so no one yet realized the enormity of the case. But then there was an unexpected break in Utah. A man posing as an undercover cop, "Officer Roseland," picked up nineteen-year-old Carol DaRonch on November 8, 1974. Suspecting him, she remained guarded, which helped her to fight him off when he tried handcuffing her. She escaped and called the police.'

When Bundy was arrested on suspicion of burglary the following August, DaRonch identified him as her would-be assailant. As Utah authorities processed Bundy for trial, psychologist Gary Jorgensen evaluated him with standard diagnostic tests such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and found him to be free of psychiatric disorders. Before and after his conviction for aggravated kidnapping in the DaRonch incident, Bundy endured more extensive testing, including brain scans, which detected no organic disorder. His lack of remorse got him a diagnosis of personality disorder, antisocial type, from several examiners.2

In addition, a picture of his early life emerged. Born in a home for unwed mothers on November 24,1946, as Theodore Robert Cowell, he was taken to Philadelphia to live with his mother's parents and be raised as her brother. For many years, he believed his grandparents were his parents. When Ted was almost five, his mother took him to Tacoma, Washington, where she married Johnnie Bundy, who adopted Ted. Four more children entered the family, and Bundy would later claim that he had grown up in a stable home with caring, churchgoing parents. He insisted that nothing they did was to blame for his actions. Still, he had shown signs of antisocial behavior even before he had a stepfather. His aunt woke up one day to find herself surrounded by knives and three-year-old Ted grinning at her. He also engaged in lies and petty theft, as well as voyeurism.

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